Gotti Guilty of Murder and Racketeering

By ARNOLD H. LUBASCH

Published: April 3, 1992

Correction Appended

John Gotti was found guilty of murder, racketeering and all the other charges against him yesterday in a swift, stunning verdict in Federal District Court in Brooklyn that crushed his reputation for eluding conviction as boss of the Gambino crime family.

Mr. Gotti wore the same tight-lipped smile he had maintained throughout the trial as the jury forewoman began reading out the verdicts against him and his co-defendant, Frank Locascio, at 1:19 P.M., after only 13 hours of deliberation over two days.

"Guilty . . . Guilty . . . Guilty," she said over and over again as a court clerk read out the charges of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy -- the RICO statute that has given Federal prosecutors a strong new weapon against the mob -- and 10 separate criminal counts against Mr. Gotti. 'It's Not Over'

Mr. Locascio was also convicted of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy and two of the three separate criminal charges, avoiding conviction only on the minor charge of illegal gambling. Under sentencing guidelines, both men will face life in prison when they appear before Judge I. Leo Glasser on June 23.

There were six murders among the charges against Mr. Gotti, including that of his predecessor as the head of the Gambino crime family, Paul Castellano, who was shot dead in front of Sparks Steak House on East 46th Street in 1985.

At the defense table Mr. Gotti leaned over to his lawyer, Albert J. Krieger, and, Mr. Krieger said later, whispered: "It's all right; don't worry. It's not over." The lawyer added that Mr. Gotti, 52 years old, was "shattered by the verdict" but was holding up well. He also said he himself was "a little shocked" at the verdict and the speed which with it came. Drugs and Strife

The conviction of Mr. Gotti, who had been dubbed the "Teflon Don" because charges against him did not stick, almost certainly signals the decline of the Gambino family. Once the nation's pre-eminent organized-crime dynasty, the Gambinos' empire extended over New York City's waterfront, construction and garment industries, as well as gambling, loan sharking and rackets.

It is also another sign that Mafia families across the nation are hard-pressed by prosecutors armed with the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and the witness-protection program to shield turncoats.

They are more vulnerable, too, because of their entry into drugs and because of internal strife. Recent convictions of top Gambino leaders have weakened the family, even during the five turbulent years that Mr. Gotti ruled with an iron fist, engendering hostility within the gang and hatred from other organized-crime leaders. 'Every Charge Stuck'

"The don is covered with Velcro, and every charge stuck," said James M. Fox, assistant director in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's New York office.

"This was really a crossroads, the most important crossroads," he said, predicting that the conviction would deal a major blow to the mob. "I'm not saying it's going to happen in a year, but the mob as we know it in New York City and this country is on its way out."

Jubilant prosecutors and F.B.I. agents burst into applause as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District, Andrew J. Maloney, entered his book-lined library to speak to reporters after the first conviction of Mr. Gotti in four attempts.

"Today's verdict by a very courageous jury is the end of a very long road," Mr. Maloney said.

An appeal is certain, and defense lawyers said it would center on the way the trial was conducted by Judge Glasser.

The judge disqualified Mr. Gotti's usual lawyer, Bruce Cutler, who had defeated prosecutors three times. In an extraordinary move, he kept the jurors not only sequestered but anonymous for fear that they would be tampered with. And he rejected defense witnesses, ruling that their testimony was irrelevant, leaving Mr. Gotti's team with only an accountant who said he had advised Mr. Gotti not to file income taxes for fear of incrimination.

Mr. Gotti had been accorded almost folk-hero status by many because of his apparent legal invulnerability. His acquittals, his designer suits and hand-painted silk ties and his swashbuckling, defiant manner as he grandly enjoyed himself at restaurants and nightclubs -- even under the ubiquitous eye of investigators -- only intensified the efforts of law-enforcement agents to construct a seamless case against him.

This time, they did. Federal prosecutors brought a strong, double-barreled case, consisting of Mr. Gotti's own words in secretly taped conversations in and around his headquarters in the Ravenite Social Club on Mulberry Street in Little Italy and the testimony of an ideal witness: Salvatore Gravano, who was heard on the tapes being anointed as Mr. Gotti's successor should he go to jail. 'Murder Plays a Central Role'

Defense lawyers vigorously attacked the credibility of Mr. Gravano, who said he was Mr. Gotti's second-in-command and admitted participating in 19 murders, and they tried to defuse the impact of the taped conversations by noting that Mr. Gotti often said things in anger that he did not mean.

Correction: April 8, 1992, Wednesday A picture last Friday with a chart detailing the verdicts in the trial of John Gotti and Frank Locascio was published in error. The picture showed John D'Amico, who has been identified by Federal prosecutors as a capo, or captain, in the Gambino crime family, not Mr. Locascio.